Restaurant grant program seeks to increase workers’ hourly wages

A grant program was unveiled Friday to help Chicago restaurants increase workers’ pay to minimum wage.

The program, High Road Kitchens, is run by the national nonprofit One Fair Wage in partnership with the city and offers grants of between $10,000 and $30,000. In return, a restaurant must agree to scale up their workers’ pay to $15 an hour by 2026.

Restaurants also have to commit to going through a race and gender equity training program and providing 500 free meals to the community.

The program is backed by $1 million from an unnamed donor. Grants will be distributed in $10,000 increments for every 500 free meals, with a maximum grant size of $30,000 per establishment, according to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office.

To be eligible, a restaurant must have annual revenue of under $3 million and have experienced financial loss due to COVID-19 totaling 25% of annual revenue.

The program, announced during a virtual news conference Friday, is open to all restaurants in the city but will focus on struggling eateries in Black and Brown communities.

“We appreciate Mayor Lightfoot for working with us to shape relief for the restaurant industry in a way that reshapes the industry to be more sustainable and equitable for employers and the thousands of workers who are struggling now and are the heart of the industry,” said Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage and director of the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

Lightfoot said the money will “give restaurants a lifeline and workers a chance to earn a living wage.”

The application process is open, and the turnaround between applications and cash in hand is several weeks. Apply online at www.bit.ly/chicagohighroadgrant or email mikey@highroadrestaurants.org.

In July, Chicago’s minimum wage increased to $13.50 or $14 per hour depending on the size of the business, and it’s set to rise to $15 per hour in July 2021.

Wages for tipped restaurant workers are different. They currently receive a wage of either $8.10 or $8.40 per hour — with the employer required to make up the difference if wages plus tips do not equal full minimum wage.

“This is a win-win for everyone involved,” Ald. Sue Sadlowski Garza (10th) said. “And it’s needed now more than ever.”

Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th) said the current pay structure is “grossly unfair, and it should be illegal.”

Victor Love, co-owner of Josephine’s Southern Cooking in the Chatham neighborhood, said he plans to apply for a grant and knows others in the industry who sorely need the help, too.

Love pointed to a recent visit to a friend’s restaurant in which he noticed his pal wearing a coat inside.

“He couldn’t afford to pay for heat,” Love said. “It kind of broke my heart.”